Thursday, 10 September 2015

Sgraffiltered

After writing a couple of posts ago about some great music and art Mrs Specs and I experienced during our recent trip to Switzerland, here is a follow-up post with some photography from the holiday.

One feature of the region where we stayed - the Engadine valley, in the country's 'bottom right' corner - was the distinctive architecture. Instead of the traditional wooden Swiss chalet typical of, say, the Bernese Oberland, many buildings here tend to be made of stone, and feature arresting decoration known as 'sgraffito'. (This is possibly due to the Italian influence right next door.)

I was so taken with these symbols and graphics, I just started shooting them, a little obsessively. It became addictive, in fact, to try and seek out not necessarily the most flamboyant but also the comparatively austere, disciplined examples. I played with settings to bring out as best as I could the wear in the stone (or sometimes wood), as well as the patterns painted over them. I hope you enjoy the results.

Inevitably, thanks to the ever-obliging Mrs Specs, I had a go at featuring sgraffito in a portrait (although if you look closely, you'll find another living being captured in one of the earlier pictures too). Finally, there is a series of more traditional views at the end of the post - essentially, my holiday snaps! - but I still took great care over them ... and if they give you a good idea of how beautiful the Engadine region is, and even prompt you to consider visiting it - I will be more than satisfied.